Why are text messages disappearing
When I turn my phone off then turn it on later there is a text message on the lock screen but when I unlock the phone it is gone
This is happening to me today, all of the sudden.
80 replies
This has been happening to me for a while now. At first I wasn't sure, but now it is clear that the messages are disappearing. I get a notification, I look at my phone, I see a text and can read the initial section, I unlock my phone, the text is nowhere to be found. This is happening for work and has lead to several upset clients and lost business. Please help solve this.
I've found that this issue is unfortunately difficult to reproduce.
Pre-conditions:
1. The iPhone must be OFF.
2. At some point in time when the iPhone is off, you must receive a text message.
The problem is that (for me) the issue doesn't always happen for every txt message. It seems to happen more with non-Apple txt messages than with iPhone iMessages.
I have tested this several times but have not been able to reproduce on my own. I do this by turning my iPhone off, asking someone to txt me and then turning the iPhone back on, and in each of my tests, the messages show on the lock screen and then appear (as expected) in the Messages app. I have not identified the pattern for what causes certain txt messages to disappear (not show up in the Messages app). These tests have all been using iMessages sent from a different iPhone though.
Bump. Same exact issue just happened to me, phone was off for an hour. A user posted this video earlier which replicates it.
New thread here since Apple seems to be ignoring this one since it already has a recommended (non) answer.
For anyone that is currently still experiencing this issue, besides the persistent option, there are two workarounds that may work for you right now:
1. Turn the airplane mode on each time before shutting off the phone and then turn it back off when the phone is on again.
2. For phones that have a carrier SIM, enable the SIM PIN by going to Settings - Phone - SIM PIN and toggle the SIM PIN state to on. If there is a default PIN already set, check with your carrier first. This is separate from your phone’s passcode and may have a default PIN already.
These workarounds might not be work for everyone as the carrier network is not connected to the phone until manual intervention is completed when phone is back on. If you lose your phone as an example and someone helps to turns it on for you when it shut off, then it cannot be retrieved with your Find My Phone option unless connected to Wi-Fi. You also can’t call the phone that time until it is connected to carrier network.
The other dangerous thing with the SIM PIN particularly is that when the phone turns on, you have to unlock the phone and then also unlock the prompted SIM part after. If you choose this option, you are limited to three incorrect passcode attempts for the SIM prompt before the SIM is unusuable and you need a replacement SIM.
Based on all my tests, it seems that during when the phone turns on, the text messages automatically delete from the Messages app unless there is a delay in connecting to the carrier network. This seems to have started happening in IOS 11 or higher.
Why are text messages disappearing